Sometimes I’m a slow learner—well, a lot of times. After about 10 years of starting counseling every January and quitting the sessions by the end of April, I figured out something. I was suffering from SAD—seasonal affective disorder.

For about 20% of the U.S. population, shorter daylight leaves them with feelings of sadness and hopelessness and losing interest in activities that they would normally find pleasurable. People with SAD tend to feel the need to sleep more during winter. In one study, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, patients at a SAD clinic averaged about 7.5 hours of sleep in the summer, 8.5 hours in the spring and fall, and nearly 10 hours in winter.

And daylight savings time doesn’t help, since darker mornings are particularly difficult for those with SAD.

Of course, sadness may actually come from real life situations, so if your blue spell lasts for a week or less, then don’t worry. But, if you experience symptoms every day for at least two weeks, it’s a sign of depression and if you only feel this way during the fall and winter, it may be a sign of SAD.

The following are some of the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder:

• Irritability: Research suggests that people with SAD are significantly more irritable than healthy individuals.

• Difficult concentrating: SAD has been known to affect a range of mental processes, including concentration, speaking ability, and memory.

• Loss of interest in sex: This is a common symptom among people with SAD and depression alike.

To counteract symptoms, spend plenty of time in the sun. It takes two or three days of bright sunshine to reverse symptoms. Short of taking a Hawaiian vacation or moving to Florida, Arizona or California, there are other ways to get relief. Several brands of light therapy boxes (also referred to as bright light therapy or phototherapy) can be purchased. These lights work by stimulating the brain from light reaching our retinas through our eyes, not from exposure of the light to our skin.

“Great! Now that you’re done with that dissertation nonsense, you can focus on getting married and having babies!”

Wait. What?!

I had to ask her to repeat what she had just said to me because I could not believe it. I was on the phone with a close family friend who had called to ask me how my dissertation defense went. My parents had called her and asked her to pray for me and she decided to call me to check up on the product of her prayer and to, of course, give me a little life advice.

She went on to inform me that despite my degrees, “A woman is nothing without children.”

And this entire conversation happened in Spanish, so it sounded a lot worse.

I wish that I could say that I had taken the high road: That I had politely disagreed and hung up the phone, but that would be a lie.

I laid into her. I let her know exactly what I thought about children. Hers in particular.

I’ve had some time to think about that conversation. Despite what was said to me, I’m sad that I used my words to tear somebody down just because I didn’t agree with what they said.

Maybe the reason that it is so easy to judge the choices of others is because we’ve put some much thought into our own. I’m willing to bet that my family friend put in as much thought and prayer into leaving school and having children as I did when I decided to apply for graduate school. Maybe that whole conversation could have been avoided if we had taken the time to empathize with each other.

That phone call is in the past and there is nothing that I can do to change that. But I hope that in the future my conversation with those whose life choices differ from my own will go something like this:

“You just graduated? How will you use your degree to act justly?”

“You’re engaged?! What a great opportunity to learn to love mercy!”

“I’m sorry that your marriage fell apart. Please let me know how I can support you as you walk humbly with your God.”

Because, after all, that’s all that really matters.

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8, NIV).

I certainly don’t love money, but I have to admit that on more than one occasion I have taken on a challenge or two in order to replenish my dwindling bank account. Hey, I try to budget, but being this fabulous gets expensive.

In high school, I had a group of friends who took advantage of the fact that my penchant for buying pretty things was greater than the resources needed to attain them. These friends undertook the task of coming up with “dares” that required increasing bravery on my part. As a result, we have some awesome stories, including, but not limited to, “The Ketchup Incident of ’99,” or “Bubble Bath-gate,” and “That thing that happened with Mrs. White that we’re not allowed to talk about. Ever.”

I was recently reminded of my high school “dares” this week. My employer instituted a health initiative that will incentivize employees for being physically active. My coworkers saw this as an opportunity to improve their health. I saw it as the “dare” that would finally help me get that handbag that I was saving up for.

So I’ve started walking to work and monitoring my progress with a pedometer. It’s about a 4.5 mile trek round-trip. I usually start my day around 6:30 a.m., which means that for the most of my trek, I walk in the dark. The worst part is that to get to work, I have to walk due west. That means that my back is to the sunrise. So, I pout as I walk. But I hear a voice telling me “Just walk. Walk into the darkness.” So I do.

Every once in a while, I turn around and see the sun rushing in from the east. The sun paints the sky with brushes dipped red, blue, orange, and purple. God is putting on a show and I have to miss it. So I pout and huff. But He whispers, “Just walk. Walk into the darkness.” So I do. As I walk, I pout, but I also sing and pray.

I blink.

Suddenly, the blues and purples have caught up with me. Followed by oranges and red. Before I know it, the colors have overtaken me and I am surrounded by light.

And so it is with fear.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5 NIV).

Imagine waking up to a day where the future is unknown—where the struggle to survive is intense and the odds are against you?

Imagine if your husband, wife, or three year-old child were to became gravely ill and receive a diagnoses that is essentially a death sentence? I once knew a woman who was diagnosed with inoperable Melanoma who was told that she had three to five years to live. Can you imagine receiving such news? Every priority and goal in your life would change.

She has since died, about three years after her diagnosis. I attended her funeral and joined her other friends who tried to bring comfort to her four young adult children.

When David sinned against God, himself and Bathsheba, he suddenly found himself devoid of hope and was overwhelmed with the thought of living a joyless life. How could he live with the future being so dark and foreboding?

Sometimes we underestimate the effect that hope and joy has in our lives until it’s gone.

What would you miss most if you suddenly learned (and it were true) that the story of Jesus was a myth and that he wasn’t coming back to rescue anyone? Would you be overwhelmed with fear? Would you be sad?

The thing that brought hope back into David’s life was the assurance that his sin was forgiven.

“Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin…Oh, give me back my joy again…Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you” (Psalm 51:1,2,7,8,12, NLT).

Dear God: It was amazing. Tommy and I were watching our bird feeder and out of the corner of my eye I saw a large red-headed bird land on a nearby tree. I told my 4-year-old grandson that the beautiful woodpecker we’d just seen was very special. He had a sense of wonder for a short time, but his full attention was soon on a pile of Legos.

I’m a lot like that. Forgive me for being unimpressed with the wonderful things you’ve created for me. Fill me with the sense of wonder that Adam and Eve must have had when they looked at everything thing you’d just spoken into existence. With this infused, may I pass this sense on to those around me. Your gifts to us are fantastic and everlasting!

About Intercer

Intercer is a website with biblical materials in Romanian, English, Hungarian and other languages. We want to bring the light from God's Word to peoples homes. Intercer provides quality Christian resources...[Read More]

Intercer is proudly sponsored by Lucian Web Service - Professional Web Services, Wordpress Websites, Marketing and Affiliate Info. Lucian worked as a subcontractor with Simpleupdates, being one of the programmers for the Adventist Church Connect software. He also presented ACC/ASC workshops... [read more]